Beyond the Image of a Saviour
by Esprit D'escalier
Summary: Marta, who has always been misled by her own emotions, finally comes to an understanding of what caring and being cared for means, and how for love to be real it needs to come from both people involved.


_So um, when I uploaded this to it said it was 300 words shorter than what Microsoft word said. That's... a huge difference._

_This is my first out of 12 mandatory stories I will be posting this year. I'm trying to get myself back into writing (both original and fanfiction), so expect to see more of me soon, especially with lots of Tales stories. Anyway, I thought this pairing lacked some fanfiction and I acted on that. Odd, seeing as this isn't even my favourite pairings or even characters. Enjoy._

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"Emil?"

The door to the hotel room crept open and a short figure slipped through the crack of light, closing the door behind them. Ratatosk didn't need to be able to see to know that it was Marta. It was always Marta. Often, she would creep into Emil's room at night when they were travelling by themselves and stare at Emil in his sleep. The girl was obsessed with the boy for a feat he didn't even do, for things that he never did. Ratatosk was always the one to do them.

"He's not here right now." Ratatosk made no attempt to hide that he was the one in control. He had made it clear at the Temple of Lightning that he was sick of the wimp and he was not giving up on that. He hated to make it hard on Marta, but he was supposed to protect her, and if that meant working 24/7 he would do it.

"Oh... that's ok. It's you I wanted to talk to anyway."

The words surprised him slightly, but then he considered what she would want to talk about and it was actually quite obvious.

"I see, you want to talk about the wimp then?"

"No! ...Well, partially," Ratatosk _hmphed_, "but I mainly wanted to talk to you." The crack of light disappeared behind Marta and small footsteps made their way over to the bed in the dark. Ratatosk felt when she sat down on the bed. She never was one to care much about personal space. "I want to talk to you, Emil, not the other Emil."

"Oh yeah, and what do you want to talk to me for?"

"I've just been thinking... I don't think Emil was the one that saved me that day when we first met. Outside of battle he's so timid, and scared, and well, I think that's cute and all... but it makes me think he wasn't the one who saved me."

"Well, I don't think that's too hard to see. That wimp saving someone? He can't even save himself."

"He tries!" Marta interjected, and Ratatosk rolled his eyes. "He's just scared, that's all... and I don't blame him for it. He didn't have much choice when we recruited him..."

"Yeah, well, scared isn't going to keep him alive. I didn't have a choice either, but I'm gonna protect you for as long as I can."

A small amount of silence passed by and Ratatosk could feel Marta swinging her legs off the edge of the bed, like a little kid at a dinner table.

"So what is it that you want anyway? You said you were here to talk to me. Did you just want to talk about that wimp? 'Cause I'm not interested."

Marta stopped swinging. "No! I came here to talk to you."

"Then talk already! I'm guessing you want that wimp back, huh? If I let him come back he'll only get us both killed."

"No, that's not it. Though I don't like how you won't share... I came here because I wanted to ask you a question."

"Yeah, and what is it?"

"Were you... the one who saved me that day? I know that Emil hadn't gone through the oath of a knight of Ratatosk yet, so it shouldn't be possible, but somehow... I mean, I asked Ratatosk to save me. And then someone did and... Could you have possibly been that person?"

Ratatosk rolled away from the girl, towards the wall. He was sick of this girl's annoying questions. She just chose the one she loved based on the person that saved her life once? He had saved her life hundreds of times, perhaps thousands.

"Why does it matter?"

"Because... my affections should go to the one who saved me. And I don't think that was Emil."

"So you're just going to love someone because they saved your life? Don't you care at all about their personality? Don't you realize that's how you ended up with a wimp like Emil to begin with? He can barely even talk around you without being nervous."

"Really? That's how he feels...?" Marta was silent. Ratatosk could feel her breathing differ though, getting faster and deeper. He wondered when she had so gotten so close to him so that their backs were touching. It could be such a pain to deal with this girl; she got upset so easily.

"No, that's not it at all!" Marta bursted out, and Ratatosk moved away slightly, surprised by her outburst.

"Isn't it? You just said so yourself! You just love the one who saved you!"

"I want to love the one that saves me every day! I want you to be the one who saved me!"

Ratatosk didn't reply. He wasn't quite sure how. Was she saying she wanted to love him?

"I want it to be you!"

Ratatosk could hear her openly crying now, but it didn't seem to be quite as annoying as he thought it would be. Why was she crying though? Had he really hurt her that much?

"Well... it wasn't me. I didn't save you, but neither did that boy. I don't know who did. So you can go away and love someone else now."

Ratatosk sat up in bed and leaned against the wall. Marta was still crying, and he found himself reaching out a hand to put on her knee. He wasn't trying to comfort her; he just wanted her to stop crying...

"No, I don't want that. Please understand. I want you. I realize that loving someone while knowing nothing about them is wrong. You've been protecting me for a long time now, and I care about you a lot. And I know that you care about me 'cause you always protect me."

"You fool, that's not caring. That's just duty." Marta grabbed Ratatosk's hand as soon as it touched her leg and used it to pull herself closer to him. She wrapped her arms around him when she found him and rested her head against his chest.

Ratatosk held his arms up in the air. He wasn't sure what to do with them. He wanted to push her away, but somehow he felt that it wouldn't be appropriate.

Her tears against his chest felt awkward, but they were warm and not too annoying at least. He noticed that no more seemed to be coming any longer, though.

"Hmph, I'm not your saviour."

"You've saved me too many times to count!" Ratatosk opened his mouth again to make a retort, but Marta spoke again before he had the chance. "And I don't care about that. I like you for who you are. I like you. I _love_ you." The words seemed heartfelt and her voice wavered slightly as she said it, but doubt and anger kicked in as always and Ratatosk couldn't just accept it as was.

"Yeah, right. You've said that to Emil too many times to keep track of."

"But every time I said it to him was only 'cause I thought I was saying it to you. I didn't realize at first that you were two separate people. But now that I do, I know that you were the one that I always wanted to say it to."

Ratatosk was unsure of what to do. He now desperately than before wanted to push the girl off the bed, but at the same time he didn't want to hurt the girl. His role as a knight was to protect her.

"_Please_, believe me. You're the only one I love. For who you are!"

Finally, Ratatosk rested his hands on the girl's shoulders, feeling he had nowhere else he could put them. It was at that moment that he felt the soft touch of her lips against his. The feeling only lasted for a second though, before he gave her a shove.

The sound of a loud _thud_ on the ground occurred and Emil looked around, wondering what had happened. The room was dark and he was left unable to see anything.

"Hello?"

His call echoed silent in the room before finally receiving a response.

"...Emil?"

"Marta?"

Emil felt the weight on the bed shift a bit as the girl pulled herself up. He could very faintly make out a silhouette in front of him.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up. I'll go now. I know you're probably wondering what happened earlier today, but I'll explain everything tomorrow."

"Oh, ok. Is something wrong? Why are you here in the dark? Did you need something?"

After a bit of silence Emil heard the girl let out a small giggle. "No, everything is fine. I got what I wanted."

Emil's head tilted to one side a bit and he felt the hair that stuck up on his head do the same. Even after the door opened and the light-framed Marta left, he was still confused as to what exactly has happened.

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_I hope you enjoy. This is only the second time I have posted something in about 3 years, so I understand if it wasn't the greatest. Please, if you read this far please review. I appreciate reviews a lot and I generally reply to all of them. _


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